Sasuke's Umbrella
by fascinatrix femina
Summary: [SasuSaku] Sasuke and Sakura sharing one umbrella...? It's Sakura's dream come true! Perfectly romantic... however, the others don't seem think so... including Sasuke himself. Chapter 3 up! XD
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **

Sakura and Sasuke sharing one umbrella...? It's Sakura's dream come true! Perfectly romantic... however, the others don't seem think so... including Sasuke himself.

**Disclaimer: **Naruto is **not** mine…

**A/N: **

Uhh… Hello again, everyone… -scratches head nervously- I know, I know… I've been a **very** bad girl for not showing up and updating my story for a few months now… I'm really **really **sorry about that! I mean… writer's block… I can't force myself to write…

So uhh…. I present you guys another SasuSaku fic… This fic is quite pointless (but extremely fluffy! XD), so, to anyone who doesn't want to read fics like this, you better head back... I wrote this to help me get over my writer's block… and I do hope that it's good enough for everyone to like…

Also, I wanna dedicate this to my dear friends, **DemonicBlackCat **and **Bemobebe. **Hello, you two! This is for the both of you because you cheered me up and gave me the inspiration to consider writing SasuSaku again! XDXDXD

Ehem… anyway… Please do enjoy!

* * *

**Sasuke's Umbrella**

By: Fascinatrix femina

Sakura hated this day now more than ever.

The pink-haired kunoichi couldn't help but let out a very frustrated groan after looking down at herself, her mouth curling into an ugly frown because of the mess she unfortunately had gotten herself into. Mud stuck on every part of her body, especially her legs, and her dress wasn't red and clean anymore for it turned into a brownish, ugly-looking rag soaked in disgusting mud.

With her fists clenched tightly at her sides, she tore her gaze away from her dress and glared at something in front of her, specifically the muddy ground where several fruits and vegetables were splattered.

So much for all her hard work...

She couldn't believe it... Her groceries, as well as all the damned stress she had gone through just to find and buy those said groceries, were gone in a blink of an eye.

"Watch where ye goin', brat!"

Sakura lifted her head to stare at the face of the man who was looming angrily above her. He was the man who had slammed his huge self against her a while ago, causing her to let out a small shriek of surprise, land on her rear, and accidentally bathe herself on a puddle of mud. He was the man who had forced her to let go of her bags of groceries, allowing all her hard-earned fruits and vegetables to tumble out of the paper bags and right into the mud-covered ground...

And now, that same man was threatening his fists at her, his expression furious, as if this whole mess was her fault to begin with...

She cracked her knuckles.

And the man was knocked out before he even had the chance to **blink**.

If this was like any other day, Sakura would have smirked in satisfaction at what she had done to the man who was now lying face-down on the dirt, his nose bloody and his face horribly swollen. Instead, she found herself groaning inwardly, reality slapping her hard on both cheeks.

_The groceries...!_

The groceries were ruined and, whether she wanted to admit it or not, this... accident... was **still** partly her fault... What would her mom say to her once she got home? She'd probably reprimand her for being careless, tell her to be more careful next time, and then send her back to the market again without another word or excuse from her.

Sakura groaned. It had been like hell going inside the market. The place had been so crowded that it had looked as if almost all the people in there were mobbing each and every stalls...

Well... it was either that **or** there was a great stampede of hungry people fighting over which one of them could grab and devour all the food in the market first.

_This is going to be a really long trip..._ Sakura repressed the sudden urge to pull the ends of her pink hair in frustration. And she had been planning to sleep after finishing this errand, too...! She hadn't been able to get much sleep last night because yesterday's training with Lady Tsunade had been so intense that her body had cramped all over, making it hard for her to get a good night's sleep...

She just wanted to go to bed! She didn't want to go back in the market and go through **hell** again!

But then again... did she have a darn choice?

Already knowing the answer to that question, Sakura headed home, feeling even more glum than ever.

And then, just when she thought that things couldn't get any worse, something from above caught her attention. Sakura's eyes went wide when she looked up at the sky, noticing what the winds had brought...

A gasp escaped her lips. "Oh no..."

Thick, wide sheets of dark and menacing clouds.

She blinked, not believing her eyes...

Sakura wasn't exactly sure what she did wrong, but whatever it was, she must have done something really bad to receive such torture from the heavens.

As if to answer her thoughts, the heavens cackled loudly in her ears, and it almost seemed as if someone from above was mocking her for her distress and her ungodly bad luck. Soon enough, tiny droplets of rain came pummeling down towards her, splattering her flushed face.

If she was in her right state of mind, she would have ran home as fast as she could before the rain could get any worse, but she wasn't thinking quite clearly at the moment. She was too shocked, too frustrated to do anything else but to stare numbly at the sky and wonder if the fat droplets of rain were the heaven's tears of laughter.

And so, for a few long minutes, she just stood there, completely motionless, just glaring up at the sky...

...and she would have continued to stand there like that if only a certain someone hadn't called out her name.

Sakura almost jumped at the sound, the familiar voice effectively jolting her out of her trance-like state. Her head whipped at the direction of the person who had called her and her jaw almost dropped to the ground when she laid eyes upon the owner of the voice. "S-Sasuke-kun...?"

The young Uchiha was standing a few feet away from her and was looking at her strangely, his dark eyes narrowed in what Sakura guessed as curiosity. In his hand was an umbrella...

_An umbrella..._ Sakura grimaced, her fingers twitching lightly after realizing that she hadn't brought one with her.

Silence reigned between them for a long while before Sakura assumed that Sasuke must be waiting for an explanation as to why she was standing there... alone... and completely soaked...

At that moment, she began to wonder the same thing.

"Uhh... I forgot my..." Her mind fumbled for an excuse and her eyes darted to his umbrella. "...my umbrella." Sakura mentally slapped herself for her lame answer and for letting Sasuke see her in such a disheveled state. In an attempt to regain some of her dignity in front of her precious teammate, she tucked her wet pink hair behind her ears and attempted to fix her dress.

There was a pause before Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her answer. Obviously, he didn't believe her excuse, but he didn't press on for some serious explanation and just turned to walk past her. "That was... careless." His expression was blank but his tone was harsh, as if he was accusing her for not bringing an umbrella with her when it was obvious that it would rain today.

Sakura felt herself shrink at his words.

Great. Just great...

She lifted her gaze to the sky and noticed that the rain kept on pouring down even harder. The wind started to pick up and she could feel it enveloping her in an icy embrace, making her shiver in response. "Umm... Sasuke-kun?"

She could faintly hear Sasuke's footsteps when she turned around and faced his retreating figure. She was almost afraid that he wouldn't hear her because of the rain, but thankfully, Sasuke did hear her and stopped in his tracks. He titled his head to the side, looking at her at the corner of his eye. "Can you... can you walk me home?" She stuttered the words out, her cheeks instantly growing hot.

He didn't respond.

Sakura bit her lip nervously, not sure of what to do or what to say next. The sudden silence was awkward and it was choking her, forcing her to feel uncomfortable until she couldn't bear the tension anymore.

Eventually, she lowered her head in disappointment, inwardly taking his silence as a no.

She had no choice. She'd have to walk home under the rain... alone... and without an umbrella...

Then, much to her surprise, before she could take a step forward, Sasuke finally spoke up. "Hn."

Sakura didn't need to be told twice. With a grateful smile, she walked under the protection of Sasuke's umbrella, sighing at the small comfort it brought and also at the warmth of the person standing right next to her.

When the two of them started walking in silence, it was only then that it fully registered in Sakura's mind that she was **sharing** an umbrella with **Sasuke**...

Her mood lightened and, for the first time that day, a small smile crawled its way to her lips.

* * *

Sasuke, however, wasn't all too happy at the sudden turn of events. He was supposed to be going straight back to his house, not waste his time and walk someone home! 

But then again, could he really leave Sakura there? Alone, under the rain, and looking all helpless?

He could, actually...

...**if** she was just like **any other** girl.

She really should be grateful that she wasn't.

What the hell was she doing back there anyway? It had been a real surprise for him to see her standing in the middle of the road, looking so lost in her thoughts and soaking under the rain. She had been looking up at the sky, as if she was... glaring at something? For a second, Sasuke's eyes darted upwards to look for anything unusual...

He didn't see anything.

What was she looking at? What was she doing there?

...and where in the heck was her umbrella?

With a frown, he looked down at the girl who was now walking beside him, finally noticing her dirty clothes and her mud-covered body. If he was somebody else, he would have cared and asked right away what had happened to her, but...

Too bad he wasn't **somebody else**...

It was none of his business, so why should he care?

But then again, if he didn't care, why did he kept on wondering what she was doing and even agreed on walking her home in the first place?

Simple.

Because she was **different** from all the other girls... **Different** in a sense that she was **his** teammate and he wasn't that much of a **dick** to leave a teammate behind just like **that**...

Sasuke frowned at his thoughts.

Just **who** the hell was he kidding?

With a muttered curse, he mentally noted to himself that next time, he should think of a better excuse... If he could come up with a more convincing excuse, then it wouldn't be so hard for him to deny that he actually **cared** -- much more than he was letting on -- about his pink-haired teammate.

"S-Sasuke-kun...?" His thoughts were interrupted by her voice and he could sense the stare that Sakura was directing at him. "Thank you." He knew she was smiling at him with **that** smile on her face, so he ignored her, not daring to meet her gaze.

Her smile was annoying. It irked him a lot because her smile was different from other people's smiles. It was as if hers radiated... **something**.

And he didn't like that... **something** because there was... **something** in there that was affecting him so.

And he'd rather not think about whatever that...** something** was.

Sasuke let out a soft curse, wanting to get rid of those unwanted thoughts inside his mind and thinking that it was so unlike him to ponder about something that was absolutely nonsense. He forced himself to look straight ahead, his grip on his umbrella unconsciously tightening.

And then, much to his irritation, she began talking to him. He cringed, not bothering to understand or to respond to whatever she was babbling about. Damn her... Why did she have to start talking to him? Her voice was grating his nerves!

Why? He didn't know.

Before, only Naruto had that power to annoy him that much, but for the past few days -- or months, he wasn't quite sure -- she was becoming much more annoying than that clumsy idiot.

He turned to gaze momentarily at the sky and was just in time to see a crack of lightning tear through the dark clouds. Seconds later, the heavens boomed, followed by an even louder pattering of rain against his umbrella.

Obviously, the weather was getting worse, but Sasuke wasn't bothered the slightest bit. In fact, he was grateful for it because the rain drowned out Sakura's chattering, turning her high-pitched voice into a light buzzing sound in his ears.

However, much to his annoyance, the rain sure made him much more aware of her presence beside him. At the corner of his eyes, he could see her every moment, how she flailed her hands in the air in order to elaborate further whatever she was talking about, the way she grimaced when her damp pink hair irritated her for sticking at the sides of her cheeks, how she uncomfortably fiddled with her dress that was as dirty and... **clingy** as hell, and how hard she tried to quicken her steps so she could keep up with his long strides.

Muttering a curse under his breath, Sasuke walked even faster, not caring whether his teammate would be able to keep up with him or not.

Hell, he wanted to get her home as quickly as possible...

Just who the fuck said that walking Sakura home was a good idea, anyway?

All of a sudden, the heavens roared loudly from above, startling him a little. His teammate, on the other hand, gasped in alarm and before he knew it, two shaking and icy cold hands made a grab for his right arm, nearly forcing him to let go of his umbrella.

Sasuke heard himself curse under his breath, his narrowed eyes turning to look down at his teammate. His mouth curled into a scowl and he wasn't sure if he was irritated at how she reacted so childishly at the thunder, or the fact that she was holding his arm so tightly as if there was no tomorrow.

He wanted to tell her to let him go... or he'd push her away himself, but when he was about to do just that, something -- or someone -- from behind caught his attention.

"Shit! Shit! SHIT!"

Sasuke sighed. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was. The person's overly loud voice was a dead give-away already.

Just **exactly** what he needed right now... A much **bigger** pain in the ass...

**To be continued…**

* * *

**A/N: **

I think anybody here already knows who that "bigger pain in the ass" is… -grins-

So, uhh… what do you guys think? Please let me know, okay? Thank you so much for reading, and your reviews are greatly appreciated! XD

Umm… before I forget, I'm real sorry about this, but it'll probably take me a week or something before I update this story. School's being such a jerk to me and my lack of SasuSaku love are keeping me from writing… -sighs-

Anyway… Thanks so much again! I hope I'll see you again next chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Naruto is **not **mine!

**A/N:**

Greetings, my beloved readers! XD Here's the next chapter of Sasuke's Umbrella… It's not much, but I'm trying my best to write SasuSaku love amidst all the problems I'm going through lately….

And I love you all soooo much for all the nice reviews! And I'm really glad that I was able to find lots of familiar people reading and reviewing my story again! I missed you all! Teehee! XDXD

I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Sakura didn't hear the loud voice, nor did she notice Sasuke's change of expression. She did, however, felt something hard ram against her back, knocking the wind out of her lungs and causing her to cry out and lose her balance. A hand reached out in hopes of steadying her, but unfortunately, it didn't reach her on time. Before she knew it, she was sprawled on the muddy ground for the second time that day. The only difference was, this time, she had something unbelievably heavy on top of her.

She shut her eyes tightly and let out a muffled groan of pain. The person on top of her groaned in pain, too, and when she fluttered her eyes open, she was met by a pair of deep blue eyes and Naruto's shocked face inches from her own.

"Get off, you clumsy idiot." If Sasuke hadn't beaten her to it, she would have been the one to say those exact same words to the said idiot.

The blonde, who finally got his wits back and realized that he was squishing the heck out of his pink-haired teammate, immediately rolled away from her and picked himself off the ground. "Hehehe. Sorry about that, Sakura-chan..." His face was bright red when he directed his gaze at her, grinning at her with that usual goofy expression on his face as he held out a hand to help her up.

Sakura allowed him to help her stand up, but as soon as she was able to get back on her feet, she caught him off guard by answering his greeting with a strong whack on his head, her expression angry. "Naruto! You should watch where you're going!"

"Ouch..." Naruto whined, his hands clutching his head in pain. "Do you really have to hit me that hard, Sakura-chan...?"

"Naruto..." Sakura started, not noticing how Naruto's eyes widened like saucers as soon as he got a good look at himself. "What are you--"

"Damn it to hell! Look at me!" Naruto suddenly excaimed, making Sakura cringe at the loudness of his voice. "My shirt's all messed up and I'm all wet!" He growled out loud in a mantra, his scrunched-up face telling her just how upset he was. Unconsciously, Sakura braced herself for Naruto's tendency to throw tantrums whenever he was frustrated, however, much to her surprise, his anger deflated like a balloon, his shoulders slumping forward in... disappointment? "And Hinata's waiting for me at Ichiraku's, too..."

This time, it was Sakura's turn to get caught off guard. "Hinata...?"

"Yeah! She wanted to tell me somethin'..." His eyes narrowed in thought for a second before deciding to shrug it off as if what Hinata was going to tell him wasn't all that important. "But she sure is nice to treat me for ramen!"

Typical Naruto to be so dense when it came to a girl's, especially Hinata's, feelings. All Sakura could do was to sigh at her blonde teammate's obliviousness. "Naruto... you're hopless."

"Huh?" Naruto, as usual, was still clueless. "Anyway, how 'bout you? Where are you guys goin'?" He asked, his gaze darting back and forth at her and Sasuke. Before long, his eyes narrowed at them, especially to their dark-haired teammate. "Sasuke... Where do you think **you're** going with Sakura-chan?"

His tone was low... and threatening.

Sakura wanted to slap her forehead in exasperation upon hearing **that** tone in Naruto's voice, knowing for instant where **this** would lead to...

Much to her relief, Sasuke just snorted and ignored him... and she inwardly thanked the heavens for his patience. Then, she frowned and turned to glare at Naruto to stop him from jumping to conclusions and from picking a fight. "Shut up, Naruto! Sasuke-kun's just walking me home..."

_And darn you for interrupting!_ Inner-Sakura added.

Naruto scowled, apparently not pleased with her answer. "Yeah? Let **me** walk you home, Sakura-chan!"

"What are you talking about?" Sakura looked at him as if he was crazy and resisted the urge to whack him hard on his head again. "Hinata-chan's waiting for you... and besides, you don't even have an umbrella!"

That brought the foxboy back to his senses. "Oh yeah..." With a wide grin, he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and chuckled lightly. "Say, Sakura-chan..." He was eyeing the umbrella that Sasuke was holding with growing interest.

It was then that Sakura realized what he was thinking and she couldn't help but gulp out loud.

"Don't even think about it." Sasuke muttered in a low growl just as Naruto was about to open his mouth to say something. He walked past them, not bothering to spare both her and Naruto another glance. His umbrella no longer shielded her from the bad weather, and the rain fell down harshly on her again.

And he didn't even wait or motion for her to come with him...

Sakura's face instantly fell. Sasuke was going to leave her behind with Naruto...?

Her blood began to boil dangerously and she turned to Naruto with every intention of yelling and beating the heck out of him for taking part on ruining her day when she realized that Naruto was nowhere in sight. She turned around and found him running towards Sasuke's direction.

"Hey! Give me **Sakura-chan's** umbrella and stop acting like it's **yours**, Sasuke-bastard!" She heard him shout and her eyes widened in alarm when he tried to grab the umbrella from Sasuke.

"Idiot! It **is** mine." Sasuke snapped angrily, slapping Naruto's persistent hands and shoving him away from him and his umbrella.

Sakura decided to intervene right then. She immediately ran between them and glared at Naruto with her hands on her hips. Knowing these two stubborn teammates of hers, if she let the situation get any worse, it would take more than herself, or some sort of a miracle, for them to stop fighting. "Naruto! The umbrella's not mine. It's Sasuke-kun's!"

"Eh?" That shut Naruto for a second, but it sure didn't stop him from pressing himself closely to her so he could get under Sasuke's umbrella. Since the umbrella was meant for two people only, Sakura had to bite her lip to suppress a gasp when she felt herself being squished in the middle by her two teammates.

Sasuke noticed the discomfort that Naruto was causing and, judging from the sour mood that was plastered on his face, it annoyed him to no end. "Dobe, go find your own umbrella." He muttered and walked straight ahead, intending to leave Naruto behind. Sakura nearly stumbled for trying to keep up with his strides while struggling not to get flattened by him and Naruto.

"Come on! Ichiraku's only a few blocks ahead!" Naruto snapped back, still keeping up with his teammates. "Stop being so selfish, Sasuke-bastard..."

The rain poured down even harder from above, but the two guys didn't seem to care. They continued to bicker and Sakura could only shake her head in exasperation. Realizing that she couldn't stop them from fighting anymore, she released a heavy sigh and decided to step back, finding it safer if she was at least a few feet away from them.

She didn't care anymore about the harsh weather. After all, getting soaked under the rain was so much better than getting flattened like a pancake by those two...

Suddenly, the sky thundered loudly in everyone's ears, forcing her to cry out in surprise. "Stupid thunder!" She hissed, not realizing that she had spoken her thoughts out loud for everyone, particularly her teammates, to hear.

Naruto's laugh caught her attention and she turned her gaze towards the two young men. Sasuke was looking somewhere else, his lips pressed together in a grim line while Naruto was eyeing her with a sly grin on his face.

"Eh? I didn't know that you're afraid of thunder, Sakura-chan!" There was a teasing tone on Naruto's voice, and Sakura found herself not liking that teasing tone.

"Stop being an idiot, Naruto!" She huffed, mentally kicking herself for letting Naruto see her distress. Rain was getting in her eyes and she reached up to wipe her face with the back of her hands. "I was just... just... **a-achoo**!"

Her sudden sneeze instantly grabbed the guys' complete attention.

"Hey, hey! Sakura's soaking wet!" Naruto blurted out and yanked the umbrella from Sasuke's hand, exposing the Uchiha prodigy in the rain, but effectively shielding her from getting soaked even more.

Sasuke cursed out loud and it didn't take long before he grabbed the umbrella back from the blonde's grip.

"Damn it, Sasuke! Sakura's gonna catch a cold here!" Naruto accused as he grabbed the handle of the umbrella and tried to pull it away again from its owner.

The dark-haired Uchiha wrenched Naruto's hand away and scowled, looking extremely pissed off. "If you weren't here in the first place, then she wouldn't catch a damn cold!"

Sakura sweatdropped when her two teammates began to fight over the umbrella yet again. They were violently pushing and pulling at each other... just like little children.

Just as she was about to yell at the two to stop fighting already, a soft and familiar voice suddenly spoke up from behind. "Umm... Naruto-kun...?"

* * *

Anyone would probably agree that it was a good thing that Hinata arrived at the scene, her timing right on the spot, or else there would have been an exchange of blows and black-eyes. For Sasuke, however, instead of feeling relief, he couldn't help but feel slightly irritated at the Hyuuga's sudden appearance. 

The reason? Because Sasuke had been itching to have a fight with Naruto from the moment he stepped in and grabbed the umbrella from his hands. Hinata came **just** when he was about to give his blonde teammate a good punch on the face!

Naruto... that damn lucky idiot.

"Hinata..." Naruto drawled out her name as if he was still having a hard time believing that she was standing there with an umbrella in hand. "What are you doing here? I thought you were at..."

"I... I.. was worried." Hinata muttered softly, blood rushing up to her cheeks as she averted her gaze from Naruto, her eyes shifting uncomfortably. "I thought... you didn't have an umbrella, so I..."

Sasuke, crushing his bitter disappointment for not being able to wreak his frustrations out on the blonde, make do by pushing Naruto towards Hinata with such force that the blonde almost tumbled right in front of her, forcing the Hyuuga girl to cry out in surprise.

Before his upset teammate could lash out any colorful words at him, Sasuke grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her away from them. He had this gut-feeling that if he stayed with them any longer, he didn't think Naruto would let him off easily.

"S-Sasuke-kun... Slow down."

He was so concentrated on getting away from his teammate that it took him a few seconds to realize that his female teammate was having a hard time keeping up with his long strides. By the time he slowed down a bit, Sakura had her hand against her chest and was gasping for breath.

He glanced down and noticed that he was still holding her hand.

He let go of her as if he was burned.

"Is... something wrong?" Sasuke found Sakura looking at him, her eyes wide with curiosity and concern. He hadn't realized that he had stopped in his tracks and had been staring at her for no particular reason.

With an irritated scowl, he furrowed his eyebrows at her and tilted his head to the side, gesturing for the weather. "Let's hurry. The rain's getting worse."

The weather was indeed getting worse by every passing minute. The pattering of rain against his umbrella was louder than ever and the wind was strong and cold enough to make his teeth chatter. But just when he was about to turn around and start walking again, pain suddenly shot through his hand, his umbrella almost slipping from his grasp. It was a good thing that Sakura was there to catch it on time or else both of them would have gotten wet even more because of the pouring rain.

"Sasuke-kun! Your hand!" Sakura gasped out loud, and Sasuke wanted to curse himself again for letting her find out about the cut on his palm. He had treated and bandaged it a while ago after his training, but it seemed like the wound opened up again because of his little "brawl" with Naruto. He glared at the wound when it continued to bleed, his blood soaking the cloth.

"It's okay. Just a little cut." He muttered and pulled his hand away when Sakura reached out to take a closer look at the wound.

Sakura ignored him though, and, with reflexes he didn't know she had, managed to grab his hand before he could see it coming. "What happened?" She asked, her green eyes examining the cut on his palm and the blood-soaked bandage around it. Judging from the sound of her voice, it seemed like her instinct as a medic-nin had kicked in.

He highly doubt it if he could get out of this situation now. With a sigh, he replied, "Training."

No way he'd tell her that he got that damn cut when he accidentally sliced himself with his own kunai while he was trying to sharpen his weapons.

Yes. Uchihas do make mistakes... **sometimes**. But he wasn't about to tell her that. That would have been really embarrassing... not to mention **stupid**.

"I see..." Sakura answered absentmindedly as she looked around and pointed at a nearby store with a large tent outside across the road. "Come on, let's hide under that so I can fix you up." She gave him a smile and started to lead him towards the store.

He wanted to protest. He really did. But he knew that it wouldn't lead him anywhere so he decided to let her do whatever she wanted.

Hell, he wanted nothing more than to get this over and done with as soon as possible...

As soon as they got under the tent, Sakura turned to face him, her expression flushed but oddly serious. "Hold out your hand." Sakura said softly as she closed the umbrella before pulling out a tiny bottle deep inside her pocket. Sasuke, with another sigh, held out his hand and watched as she squirted a jelly-like substance from the tiny bottle and onto her fingers. "Sasuke-kun..." Her voice sounded edgy, nervous. "This is quite painful..."

With that said, all Sasuke could do was to raise an eyebrow at her. With a shrug, he muttered impatiently, "Just get it over with." He was a little surprised when she looked at him in concern for a moment before nodding her head and applying the jelly gently into his cut.

Sakura was wrong. The medicine wasn't painful...

It was **excruciating!**

It was so **damn** excruciating that Sasuke had to bite his lip just to keep himself from screaming out loud. With a hiss, he jerked his hand away from Sakura's grip and turned his back on her, trying his best to act as if nothing happened.

Fuck... No more showing her his injuries after this...

"Sasuke-kun..." Her tone was filled with worry as she walked in front of him, her hand reaching out for his wounded hand again. "This would help ease the pain a little bit."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed when Sakura held his hand in front of her face. With a reassuring smile, she did something unexpected that it caught him completely off-guard.

She **blew** at his palm.

And to make matters worse, the pain he was feeling only grew even worse...

...and it wasn't the cut on his palm that he was talking about.

"Shit..." He muttered a curse under his breath as he glanced at Sakura, who was still blowing at his palm with her eyes half-closed and her lips puckered. A tingling feeling went up his spine and, for reasons unknown to him, that tingling feeling started to crawl all over his body.

No matter how cold the weather was or how soaked he was because of the rain, he couldn't help but feel incredibly... hot.

Fuck it all to hell.

He was just about to snap at her to stop whatever she was doing when they heard loud voices from the store they were standing in front of.

"Oh, stop whining and just go, Shika-kun!" A familiar high-pitched voice cried out.

Soon enough, the wooden door slid open and a young man was forcefully pushed out of the store. He cursed as he scrambled forward, the bags in his hands almost slipping from his grasp. "Will you stop pushing?" He snapped at the blonde girl who was leaning against the door, her hands on her hips and a teasing smirk on her face. With a heavy sigh, the young man resorted to grumbling his frustrations out loud. "Girls are so damn troublesome..."

Sasuke's eye twitched when he realized who they were. Sakura, however, was the first one to speak. "Ino and... Shikamaru?"

**To be continued…**

* * *

**A/N:**

Uhh… so… what do you think? Still want me to continue this stuff? Tell me what you think, all right? XD Reviews are very much appreciated because they inspire me to get my lazy butt movin' and start writin'! XDXDXD

Oh, and I'm sooo sorry for updating so darn late… This week is currently a **hell **week for me because of school. So many research papers, deliverables, pending projects, and **DAMN** deadlines that I don't know what to do anymore! I swear my mind's gonna go **KABOOM** sooner or later…

Darn it…! College life is a freaking hell…

Anyway, please do forgive my rambling… See you guys again next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Naruto is **not** mine!

**A/N:**

Gaah... So sorry again for the slow update, you guys... I'm just not as inspired as I used to be since my love for Sasusaku's not as strong anymore unlike before... Not to mention, school's still being such a complete jerk to me and I'm having trouble finding the time to continue writing...

I was supposed to upload this chapter early this afternoon, but for some unknown reason… fanfictiondotnet wouldn't want me to log in…

Anyway, I think I made you wait long enough. I hope you enjoy this chapter! XD

* * *

**Chapter 3**

It was amazing how a person's face could express so many different emotions in just a span of a few seconds. Sakura watched, or more like stared in surprised awe, as series of expressions flashed on her best friend's face as soon as she laid eyes upon her and Sasuke standing so close to each other outside the store.

"Sakura..." The blonde girl uttered her name, her expression priceless as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing right in front of her. "And Sasuke-kun...?"

"Oh, hey, Ino..." Sakura smiled as she turned to greet Ino with a small wave, but soon realized that she couldn't since she was still holding Sasuke's injured hand. With flushed cheeks and a mumbled apology, she gently let go of his hand before she returned her gaze towards the blonde girl.

She wasn't all that surprised when she found Ino directing her with a glare and a deep scowl. In fact, there was even a small part of her that was half-expecting her blonde friend to ignore her, march past her, throw her arms around Sasuke's neck, and make cute faces at him in attempt to get the Uchiha to notice her.

She grimaced inwardly at the thought. That was what Ino used to do months after they had first met Sasuke. Back then, both of them had been acting no better than Sasuke's fangirls who had nothing in their minds but their stupid, childish crushes.

Fortunately, they were 15 year-old teenagers now. They knew better than to compete with each other for Sasuke's attention like immature girls.

Her thoughts were cut short, however, when Ino suddenly squealed in delight. "Sasuke-kun! What a coincidence! I'm so happy to see you!"

Much to Sakura's surprise, Ino did exactly what she had thought her blonde friend wouldn't do anymore. Ino threw herself in Sasuke's arms and squeezed him in a really tight embrace, completely ignoring his grunts of protest. Not only that, Ino turned to look at her with a triumphant smirk, as if challenging her to top what she just did.

Sakura blinked.

Childish or not, the pink-haired kunoichi knew that her blonde friend was doing this on purpose only because she had caught her holding Sasuke's hand...

And believe it or not, she found herself doing exactly what she thought she wouldn't do anymore. Instead of ignoring the way her best friend was acting, she could feel her blood boil in response. She could feel her inner-self goading her to give in to the urge to rise up to Ino's challenge.

No matter how much Sakura tried to convince herself that she couldn't care less about how Ino was shamelessly sticking herself to Sasuke's side like a leech, she still couldn't help but feel... **ticked**.

"What are you guys doing here... _together_?" Ino asked after letting go of a scowling Sasuke and deliberately putting a slight edge in her voice as she said the word "**together"**.

"I forgot my umbrella at home, so I'm sharing an umbrella with Sasuke-kun." Sakura answered as cheerfully as she could, planning to let Ino see just how happy she was about the whole situation.

Something at the back of her mind was telling her to grow up. It was really childish of her to do such a thing, but she wanted to get back at Ino for squeezing the life out of Sasuke a while ago.

Old habits can be so hard to let go sometimes...

Ino raised one sharp eyebrow at her answer before turning her attention towards Sasuke again, a small smirk forming in her lips. Wearing the biggest puppy-dog eyes that Sakura had ever seen her muster, Ino clasped her hands in front of her chest and stared directly at the Uchiha's eyes. "My umbrella's broken, Sasuke-kun. Won't you share your umbrella with me? Look!" Reaching out from one of her shopping bags from Shikamaru, she pulled out a pink umbrella, pointing at the huge crack at the center of its handle. Sakura surmised that probably with enough force, it could easily be broken in two.

"Oi, Ino..." Shikamaru suddenly spoke up and dropped all the stuff he was carrying on the ground, ignoring Ino's protests when the bags got mud all over them. With a heavy sigh, he bent down and grabbed something again from one of Ino's paper bags.

_Another umbrella...!_ Sakura scowled at the realization of what Ino was doing and directed a glare at her blonde friend, who was looking at her with her innocent expression still plastered on her face.

Sakura felt a vein twitch.

"Stop messing around..." Shikamaru suddenly blurted out, the expression he wore clearly showing what was on his mind, meaning that she was getting **too** troublesome for his own liking. "And start helping me with all **your** stuff. My arms are starting to get the cramps..."

Shikamaru motioned for her to give him back the pink umbrella, so they could use the other one and finally get the heck out of here. However, Ino stopped him with a frown. "You know... that umbrella's too small for the two of us." Ino muttered, ignoring the look of disbelief that Shikamaru was throwing at her. "Tell you what, you can use it." Ino smiled, stealing glances at Sasuke. "In fact, you can go right ahead. Sasuke-kun and I will catch up with you."

Shikamaru instantly protested. "What are you talking about?" He asked, frustration evident in his tone. "What about **your** stuff? You can't expect me to hold this umbrella," He then pointed at the loads of items on the ground. "while carrying all those things all by myself!"

Ino answered him by placing her hands on her hips, scowling at him as if he was a child daring to speak up to his mom. "Oh come on, Shika-kun! I'm sure you can come up with something! You're the genius here!"

Again, Shikamaru resorted to grumbling his frustrations out loud, complaining just how **troublesome** girls can really be.

"Come on, Sasuke-kun... Let's go." Without warning, Ino reached out and managed to grab Sasuke's umbrella from Sakura, flashing the pink-haired kunoichi with a smug smile. She was about to pop it open when Sakura's hand reached out, grabbing the top of Sasuke's umbrella with a deep frown on her lips.

For a moment, the two girls just glared at each other, neither of them wanting to back down. Sakura tightened her grip around the top of the umbrella, preventing Ino from opening it. "Let go of Sasuke-kun's umbrella, Ino-pig..."

Ino responded by clutching the handle of the umbrella hard enough for her knuckles to turn white. She didn't look like she was going to let go of it anytime soon. "You let go, Fore-head girl."

A sudden clap of thunder tore through the thick clouds, the hard plummeting of rain against the store's tent growing worse by the minute. No matter how hard Mother Nature tried to wreak havoc with her storm, her wrath was nothing compared to the dark and menacing atmosphere surrounding the two girls. Angry sparks ran back and forth between Sakura and Ino as they tried to out-glare each other, its intensity warning everyone around them to run off and stay clear... or **else**.

Their glaring match was short-lived, however, when their object of affection spoke up. And judging from the sound of his voice, he was really pissed off. "I don't have time for this." Sasuke snapped out loud and, without sparing Sakura another glance, turned his back on her as he marched alone into the rain, leaving her with his umbrella.

Silence.

It didn't take Sakura that long to realize just how much of a fool she made out of herself in front of Sasuke.

"Uh-oh... Sasuke-kun..." Ino was looking at Sakura with her eyes wide, her words barely registering in Sakura's mind. The pink-haired kunoichi was far too busy staring at Sasuke's retreating back to even care about how her friend was going to react or what she was going to do next. Because of this, she wasn't able to notice the accusing finger that Ino was currently pointing at her. "Y-You made Sasuke-kun upset!"

The rain was getting worse, and Sasuke's figure was slowly fading away into the distance.

"Fore-head girl?"

Without another word, Sakura yanked Sasuke's umbrella from Ino's grip. She was about to run towards the direction Sasuke was heading when she caught sight of Ino's pink umbrella. _There's only one way to sort this out..._ She muttered to herself inwardly and, much to her best friend's surprise, she reached out and grabbed the pink umbrella that Ino was holding.

"H-Hey!" Ino exclaimed and stepped forward to retrieve her umbrella. "Give that back!"

"Sorry, Ino..." Sakura directed her with an apologetic look. "I'll give this back to you tomorrow, I promise!"

And with that, the pink-haired kunoichi opened Sasuke's umbrella as she ran towards the rain, her friend's umbrella clutched tightly to her chest.

* * *

The rain was pouring down harshly on him, but he didn't care. 

Sasuke directed his suppressed anger on the damn rain. Before, he didn't really mind rainy days and even thought that the rain had this unusual ability to soothe his nerves with their steady and rhythmic patter as they plunged against the ground.

Now, however, he was cursing the black skies for choosing to rain today of all times! Why did it have to rain today? Why couldn't it have rained tomorrow or even the day after that? Because of the rain, he was forced to bring his umbrella along with him.

His eyes narrowed at the thought. Instead of helping him, his damn umbrella became the cause of all his problems. If only he had known that he would meet those idiots on his way home and they would pick a fight over his stupid umbrella then he would have brought lots of umbrellas along with him! He'd give just about anything to shove those damn umbrellas to each of their faces!

_No._ Sasuke thought grimly. Maybe bringing an umbrella had been his mistake all along. It would have probably been better if he hadn't brought his umbrella with him.

If he **hadn't** brought his umbrella then he would have been forced to **stay** at the training grounds and **wait** for the rain to stop. This would have **avoided** the chance to meet a certain pink-haired kunoichi standing in the middle of the road with nothing to protect her from the hostile weather.

At the mention of his female teammate, his mouth curled into a frown. He could sense her running after him from behind.

She was the main cause of his problems. If it weren't for her, he would have been back home by now.

With a snort, he quickened his steps.

_What does she want from me now?_ Sasuke scowled darkly. Damn it, she already had his umbrella! What more could she possibly want? His **shirt**?

"Sasuke-kun! Wait up!" He could hear her footsteps getting louder and louder by the second. Soon enough, she was walking by his side with his umbrella in hand. She reached up and held it over their heads, preventing the rain from having the liberty to get him even more wet than he already was.

Even though Sasuke wouldn't admit it to anyone but himself, he was a little grateful that Sakura followed him.

And no... it wasn't because he missed her company, but it was because he wanted to get his umbrella back.

After spending a few minutes walking out in the open with nothing to protect him from the heavy rain, he was starting to have a hard time pretending that he didn't need the umbrella and wasn't the least bit bothered by the weather.

He was dripping wet from head to toe and it was doing nothing to help lighten up his mood!

Damn, fucking rain...

"Sasuke-kun..." He could see Sakura fidgeting uncomfortably beside him as they continued to walk ahead. Sakura wasn't meeting his gaze and was looking down at the ground, her head bowed low. "Look, I..."

Sasuke sighed, already knowing what was going to happen next after seeing the look on Sakura's face. _Here goes..._ Sasuke braced himself as he waited for her to plead and beg for his forgiveness as if a great deal of what had happened a while ago was her own fault to begin with.

It was pathetic, to say the least.

And he wasn't sure if she was the one who was being pathetic, or he, himself, for actually feeling a bit guilty for blaming all his bad luck on her.

"Thank you."

_Huh?_ Sasuke wasn't prepared to hear that, so he looked at her oddly when she handed his umbrella back to him, a forced smile forming on her lips.

"I can take it from here now. Ino uhh..." She cleared her throat. "...let me borrow her umbrella." She brought her hand up and showed him Ino's pink umbrella clutched in her hand.

He narrowed his eyes at the umbrella she was holding, remembering the crack on its handle.

But, as usual, he didn't say anything about it.

Instead, he watched as she popped her umbrella open, noting how she gently wrapped her hand around the handle so she wouldn't accidentally break it apart. "Sasuke-kun... Sorry for the trouble." She still wouldn't look at him in the eyes and he was starting to get annoyed. "I-I'd better get going now. See you tomorrow." She gave him another forced smile before she turned her back on him and went on her way, heading to the other side of the street at the opposite direction.

For a few moments, Sasuke just stood there, his eyes glued to Sakura's slowly disappearing figure and her pink umbrella.

He then looked up at the sky that was still filled with dark and heavy clouds. Fat droplets of rain continued to make its way down against his umbrella, its noisy pattering ringing loudly in Sasuke's ears.

The weather didn't look like it would calm down anytime soon and the cold was starting to really get to him since he was practically soaked from head to toe. So, with one last look at his teammate's direction, he turned around and resumed his journey home.

Now that Sakura was gone, he didn't have to stick around outside the streets any longer than necessary. He didn't have to be forced to go to some damn place and do something that he didn't give a shit about.

No one or nothing was going to stop him from going home now...

Not even Sakura and her stupid umbrella with a huge crack on it. From the looks of things, she probably had the handle of her damn umbrella broken in two now.

With a snort, he decided to quicken his footsteps before his conscience could force him to change his mind.

All of a sudden, the clouds boomed and a strong gust of wind made its way towards his direction. It reached him with a dangerous intent and Sasuke struggled against the strength of Mother Nature as she started to take the umbrella from his grip. It was as if some invisible force was yanking the umbrella violently from his hands. Fortunately, the force wasn't strong enough to pull the umbrella from his tight grip, but by the time the wind was through with him, he was once again shivering cold and dripping wet.

Sasuke didn't know if he could get anymore wetter than this...

And then, from out of nowhere, a flash of something pink suddenly flew past him with incredible speed. He stopped in his tracks, wondering for a moment what that pink thing could have been. The object rode against the strong gust of wind and it landed right in front of him. Narrowing his eyes at the said object, it took him a few seconds to realize what the object was...

Sakura's umbrella.

Its handle was completely broken, the other half of it missing.

Before he could marched towards it and pick it up, the wind carried it again. It traveled down the street until it suddenly swerved to the right and got caught on one of the trees at a nearby empty lot.

He blinked. If he wasn't in a damn mood right now, he would have considered this whole situation as comical.

"Sasuke-kun!" Hurried footsteps from behind caught his attention and he saw his female teammate running towards him, looking even more disheveled and stressed out than before. Before she could open her mouth to ask, he beat her to it by tilting his head to the side, pointing at the direction of the empty lot. "Umm... Thanks!" She muttered breathlessly with an embarrassed blush on her cheeks as she ran to where he had just pointed.

A part of his mind was telling him to walk away now, just leave her and go home when he still had the chance. After all, she had her own umbrella now... even if it **was** stuck on top of a tree. Getting it from the top of the tree wasn't **his** problem anymore...

With a snort he tore his gaze from her direction. He was just about to will his body to start walking away, when he heard her cry out loud. Before he knew what he was doing, he was already marching towards where Sakura was. She had managed to get the umbrella from the tree and was now looking down at it with a scowl on her face.

"I can't believe this..." He heard her mutter as she ran her hand over the umbrella. Sasuke wondered what she was talking about until he got a clear look on the umbrella that she was holding.

It got ripped apart.

"How am I supposed to get home now?" Those words were uttered almost in a whisper, as if she meant to say it only for herself to hear. Sasuke heard them out loud and clear though, and he couldn't help but curse this day in his mind over and over again.

In the end, he sighed resignedly to himself.

Maybe it **really **was his fate to walk her home after all...

"Come on." Sasuke muttered, not caring if his tone sounded grim. This made Sakura look up at him with her eyes wide. When she didn't move an inch from her spot, he directed her a glare. "Do you want to come or not?"

He could see the hesitation on her face, but eventually, she nodded and walked under the protection of his umbrella. Sasuke saw her mouth open to say something to him. He didn't get to hear what she was about to say, however, after noticing the figure standing silently behind her.

The urge to haul her up to his shoulders and get the hell away from here as fast as he could suddenly welled up inside him. It was almost too overwhelming to resist.

Just as he was about to do just that, however, the figure finally decided to make his presence known to the both of them.

"Sakura-san...?" His unusually thick eyebrows was raised in utmost surprise, but it sure didn't stop him from showing them his perfect rows of white teeth that seemed to glimmer so sickeningly bright even under the dark sky. "And... Sasuke-san! What are you two doing here?"

Sasuke cursed under his breath.

Of all people they had to meet…. It had to be the **beast.**

**To be continued...**

* * *

**A/N:**

As usual, tell me what you guys think, all right? XD Thank you so much for reading, and reviews are very much appreciated!

Oh, and I may not be able to update the next chapter anytime soon, because I'm still having a major hangover with the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: The Dead Man's Chest"... XD Have you guys watched it? It's an awesome movie! And I **LOVE **Jack Sparrow to death!

Also, I'm quite addicted with the game O2Jam... Anybody here wanna play with me? Mga kabayan? Laro tayo O2Jam? Teehee! XDXDXD

Uhh... anyway... thanks again and see you again next chapter!


End file.
